


All Owl's Eve

by clio



Category: Winner (Band)
Genre: Fluff, Halloween Costumes, Special Guest - Freeform, Trick or Treating
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-25
Updated: 2016-10-25
Packaged: 2018-08-24 14:37:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,482
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8375953
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/clio/pseuds/clio
Summary: What do you do when you find a little owl on your doorstep?





	

**Author's Note:**

> There's no prompt for this story - I just felt compelled to do something extra fluffy for Taehyun.

When Nam Taehyun wakes up on Monday morning, he gives himself 10 extra minutes in bed, hitting the snooze button on his alarm clock and tossing it under his pillow. The floor is cold under his bare feet when he finally emerges from the depths of his blankets, and he winces as he stretches his arms overhead and hears the bones in his spine crack and shift into place. Absently, he scratches at the skin of his stomach as he thumbs over the messages on his phone--all from his mother--dismissing them all before turning and heading towards the bathroom. Catching his reflection in the mirror, he sighs at the evidence of his recent weight gain before turning on the shower.

Breakfast is porridge with slices of a banana that’s past its peak by days, and strong black coffee. Every so often his eyes reach the television set that is playing the morning news, and all he sees are stories of a spiraling economy, the latest blunder of political figures, and the weather forecast that is predicting rain for the evening.

Taehyun drops his dishes into the sink and picks up his keys, tucking his tie into his pocket. He aims the remote at the television and turns it off just as the news cuts away to a segment featuring the smiling faces of children dressed in adorable and adorably scary costumes. 

It’s Halloween.

He hates this day.

 

\---

 

It is the one night of the year that Taehyun is glad he lives in a shabby apartment block. The general forbidding nature of the place does not promote natural camaraderie among residents, so he knows his neighbors will bring their kids to more promising and welcoming areas of the city for sweets and treats. 

And Taehyun will be left to enjoy his evening alone and in peace, despite his mother’s pestering. 

Having arrived home from another day at work, Taehyun had just changed into sweatpants and a flannel shirt when he realized his kitchen was in dire need of restocking. All he had was moldy milk and packages of cheap ramen noodles. 

Slipping into his sneakers, Taehyun patted his pockets for the essentials: keys, wallet, phone-- before swinging his door open.

What he found on his doorstep stopped him in his tracks.

A little lost owl was looking at him with large watery eyes. A tiny plastic pumpkin was clutched in one feathered hand. He looked to be all alone, and so very lost as he stood in the dingy hallway. Having heard Taehyun’s door open, the little owl started, a small squeak of surprise escaping from an orange beak.

“Uh… are you lost?” Taehyun asked, peering into the hallway on both sides. The little owl only stared up at him as his jaw began to tremble. A second later, and he was full on crying, fat tears slipping from his eyes.

“Oh no, hey, hey, it’s alright,” Taehyun tried, panicking. He kneeled down toward the little owl with the intention to offer some reassurance, but this only made the owl cry harder.

Inwardly, Taehyun swore, his mind at a total lost. Having never been good with kids, he had no idea what to do when one found a little kid in an owl costume crying on your doorstep on Halloween. 

Halloween.

“Hey, do you want some candy?” Taehyun asked in what he hoped was a friendly voice. “I’ll give you some candy if you stop crying, okay?”

This seemed to get through to the little owl. He calmed his sobbing and rubbed a tiny fist against his eyes. He looked at Taehyun with interest and focused on reaching common ground. “Candy?”

“Yes, candy!” Taehyun nodded. “I have some candy for you. Let’s not cry anymore, alright?”

This seemed agreeable to the little owl. He immediately perked up, straightened his back and brought his tiny feet together. He lifted his little pumpkin pail with both hands, and with imploring eyes and the sweetest voice, said, “twick o tweet?”

Something in Taehyun’s chest melted on the spot and he resisted the urge to reach out and squeeze the cheeks out of the little owl, or something that one did when confronted with so much adorable cuteness.

“Twick o tweet?” the little owl said again, this time holding his pail higher, as if he had somehow gotten the delivery wrong. Taehyun felt his heart go all mushy again, because this little owl gave an oscar-worthy performance. For some unfathomable reason, Taehyun felt proud of him. 

“Twick...o tweet,” the little owl said again, but with less confidence this time. His arms were slowly beginning to lower, and Taehyun could spy a tell-tale quivering of the lip begin.

Shit. Taehyun snapped out of his daze and realized with much alarm, that he didn’t have any candy in the apartment. Standing up, Taehyun frantically ran his eyes over anything in his apartment that might be a suitable substitute and coming up woefully short.

Sniffling could be heard from somewhere by his ankles, and suddenly Taehyun was stumbling backwards towards his hallway closet, rifling through the pockets of his coat. His hand closed around a paper package, and he sighed in relief.

“Here, here!” Taehyun said triumphantly, as he dropped a package of half-used gum into the little owl’s pumpkin pail with flourish. “Happy halloween,” he added with a genuine smile.

Again, the little owl’s tears were chased away almost immediately, as he looked on in delight at his treat that lay at the bottom of his pail. He looked up at Taehyun with pure delight shining in his face as he reached in pulled out his treasured gum. “Heppy Hallween,” the little owl declared with a toothy grin. 

“Indeed,” Taehyun amused and utterly endeared before it occurred to him. “Where are your parents?” he mumbled quietly so as not to cause alarm and tears once more. Taehyun cast a glance at both ends of the hallway again, but there seemed to be no one in sight. 

The little owl peered up at him again, one hand around the handle of his pail, the other gripping the package gum. 

_“Twick o tweet?”_

 

\---

 

Taehyun was starting to worry that he’d never find the little owl’s parents. He had taken the little owl door to door, under the guise of trick-o-treating (much to the little owl’s delight), to try and see if any of his neighbors were missing a kid. 

They had been at it for a while now, and had covered the Eastern end of the apartment block. The little owl, Taehyun knew, was getting tired.

And it was getting late.

They stopped in what was supposed to be the complex’s center courtyard, but it was really just some potted plants and cheap patio furniture from the 1980s. The little owl let go of Taehyun’s hand to clamber up the plastic chair. It was both humorous and alarming to watch, as he refused to let go of his little pumpkin pail of goodies but couldn’t quite manage to pull himself up. Finally, Taehyun bent down and picked up the little owl, setting him down in the chair comfortably and taking a seat next to him. 

“Do you even live here?” he asked worriedly. 

But the little owl didn’t pay him any mind, too busy pulling each treat out of his pail and carefully lining them up in a row. 

“What should we do?” Taehyun asked, not really expecting an answer. What he got, instead, was a chocolate bar. The little owl pressed it into his palm with what looked like a reassuring smile.

Taehyun couldn’t help but return the smile. It was refreshing to be around such innocence. “Thank you,” he said, toying with the candy in his hand. “You know, today is my birthday, so I’ll take this as a birthday present, if it’s alright with you.” 

“Birthday?” the little owl piped up. Taehyun was finally speaking his language.

“Yes, it’s my birthday today. 25 years old. A quarter century,” he said with a touch of wistfulness. Taehyun paused, but one glance at the honest and curious face peering up at him had him continuing, “I don’t really like celebrating my birthday -- I’ve always found being born on Halloween to be a bit depressing. Besides the bad luck and all morbid things associated, I’ve never felt like the day was ever mine, you know? An unwanted trespasser on someone else’s party.”

Taehyun looked back at the little owl, who had gone back to arranging his candy. “How old are you anyway? 2? 3?”

The little owl immediately perked up and proudly held up three fingers. 

Impressed, Taehyun laughed. “Three years old! Well, you’re doing great for three.”

The little owl just blinked at him. 

“I’m Taehyun, by the way,” he continued, offering his hand to the little owl, who frowned and hurriedly clutched as much of his candy as he could in his small hands. Afraid, as he was, that the tall stranger was going to take it away.

Laughing, Taehyun immediately pulled back. “Sorry, sorry, I don’t mean to offend. That’s all yours, you earned it.” 

“Oh, you two look so sweet together!” The neighborhood grandmother called out as she shuffled across the courtyard, back from her evening walk. “I had hoped to catch him in his costume tonight. Look at how cute! A little owl! I should have known, the kid loves owls.”

Taehyun’s head snapped up. “Wait, you know who this is?” he asked, eyes wide as he gestured to the little owl seated next to him.

The grandmother tilted her chin as she looked beadily at Taehyun, the way only grandmothers could. “Of course I know him.”

“And, does he live here? His parents?” Taehyun asked, instantly relieved and eager.

"Do you know nothing about your neighbors?” The grandmother admonished with a shake of her head, lifting a wrinkled hand and pointing to a door on the Western side of the complex. “He lives right there.”

They were no more than 10 feet away.

“Oh, right. I didn't know. I just found him wandering in the hallways...” Taehyun trailed off, feeling somehow foolish. 

But the grandmother just tsked at him. "You've been living here for three years and he's been here just as long," she began to nag at him. "This is what you get for always staying cooped up in that apartment of yours. You don't even come to the potlucks—"

"I know. I'm sorry. I'll try to come next time," Taehyun said hurriedly. If left alone, the grandmother would talk his ear off and weigh in on every aspect of his life, from his hairstyle to what he was eating. Standing, Taehyun dusted the back of his pants off and turned to the little owl. “Alright, it’s time to go home now, little—”

“Hayul!”

A shriek from down the other side of the courtyard had them all startled as they turned and watched a young mother dart towards them

and right past Taehyun and the grandmother as she gathered the little owl in her arms, her cheeks wet from her desperate tears. By the looks of things, Taehyun figured she must be the little owl's mother. She checked her son's person, and, noting that he was unhurt, turned her attention to Taehyun and the grandmother.

“Thank you for finding him!” she spoke firmly even as her voice wobbled. “I turned my back on him for a second and he was out the door,” she sniffled and cradled Hayul closer to her chest. “I was so worried, thank you so much.”

“I didn’t do anything,” the grandmother said with a shake of her head. “He found the boy.” She was pointing to Taehyun.

The little owl’s— _Hayul_ , Taehyun learned—mother turned to him, eyes swooping over him. “And who are you?”

“Taehyun,” he said. “I live on the East side. 1C? I, um, found him outside of my door.”

She didn’t say anything, her keen eyes staring at him. "How come I've never seen you before?" she asked.

Taehyun shuffled his feet. "Well...you see..."

"This is what you get for not coming to our potlucks," the grandmother said with her nose turned up, a clear sign that she knew she was right.

“Yes, well. Um, I found, uh, Hayul outside my door. We went trick-o-treating. We tried to find you.” Somehow it had ended up sounding like a question.

Hayul's mother dragged her gaze from him to her son. He looked perfectly unharmed as he gripped his pumpkin pail.

“Oh, he’s alright,” the neighborhood grandmother chimed in with authority. “When I found them, they were just sitting there and laughing.” 

Hayul’s mother blinked and nodded. “Well, thank you for taking care of Hayul. He was really excited about Halloween, as I’m sure you can see,” she gestured to Hayul’s outfit. "I turned my back on him for a second to grab my coat and he was out the door."

Taehyun nodded. "Sure. It happens." He wasn't sure if it did or didn't, but it felt like the thing to say.

"Sorry to be a bother. Hayul can be a handful sometimes..."

"No, no, it's fine. I don't mind at all. We...we had fun," Taehyun replied, looking at Hayul affectionately. The little owl had rested his cheek on his mother's shoulder, bored of the adult's talk.

The courtyard lights flickered on. 

“Ah, it’s time for my shows!” the grandmother exclaimed as she noted the time and quickly said her goodbyes only to shuffle away slowly.

“We should get going, too. It's getting late. Hayul, say goodnight,” his mother instructed the little boy.

The little owl—Hayul—reached for Taehyun small hands pulling at his face and placing a child’s kiss on his cheek. “Bye bye,” he said before generously patting his face. “Heppy Birthday!”

Taehyun’s heart did that funny melty, floppy thing again. 

“Thank you, little owl.” 

In response, Hayul did his best impression of an owl's hoot. Cheeks puffing as blew hot air out all over Taehyun's face. Taehyun couldn't help but laugh, somehow feeling more light-hearted than he had in quite some time. 

The little owl and his mother waved before turning and walking towards their home. Over his mother's shoulder, Hayul waved at him again, hand wrapped firmly around a piece of candy, and called out, “Bye bye, see you morrow!”

Taehyun smiled and waved back. “Goodnight, Hayul, see you tomorrow.”

It was something to say, of course, but as he made his own way back to his apartment, his trip to the grocery store long forgotten, it occurred to Taehyun that he had spoken the words with the hope that they would be true. Smiling to himself over the oddness of the evening's events, he found he had rather enjoyed the company of the little owl.

Perhaps Halloween didn't have to be so awful after all. 

END


End file.
